Library Support for Afro-American Studies
March 30, 1999

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The segments of the Library’s collections that support the Afro-American Studies Program and the Rites and Reasons theatre group are, in part, discrete, and, at the same time, draw on various disciplines, much like the Program itself. The range of courses taught and the variety of faculty involved in teaching them go a long way toward defining the academic areas and interests which the Library attempts to support. These interests overlap to a great extent with those of other programs in the University: American Civilization, English and other literatures, Modern Culture and Media, Anthropology, History, Ethnic Studies, Music, Latin American Studies, and Portuguese-Brazilian, as well as many of the social sciences, such as Psychology, Sociology, Economics, Political Science, and Urban Studies. All the areas in which Afro-Americans participate or are studied as a group.

Consequently, it is difficult to give accurate, complete figures on the Library holdings that support the Program. However, enumerating Library of Congress classification numbers and ranges as outlined in the Collection Development Policy, which covers topics as varied as history of the United States, Africa, and Latin America, American literature, and the arts, gives a total of approximately 9300 titles. About 2000 of these are in the primary classification, E185 (African-Americans in the United States). The Library currently subscribes to 59 periodicals focused on Afro-American matters. There are several strong microfilm collections, including FBI files on Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, the papers of figures like W.E.B. DuBois and Carter Woodson, and runs of early black journals and newspapers. The John Hay Library houses major collections in relevant areas such as the Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays and the McClellan Lincoln Collection. They are also participating in the Library of Congress project of digitizing Afro-American sheet music, available on the Web as part of LC’s American Memory site. The John Carter Brown’s resources on the early history and culture of the New World are also relevant. The Library has recently acquired and made accessible campus-wide major full-text files like Afro-American Poetry (1750-1900) and Ethnic NewsWatch, as well as indexes like the Handbook of Latin American Studies and those for literature, history, and other related disciplines.

Expenditures for the last three years have fluctuated somewhat, but overall stand 3% higher than five years ago. The recent increase is typical in the humanities, and though the totals are comparatively low, there is no doubt that the Program benefits from the expenditures on behalf of the many disciplines mentioned earlier.

Expenditures for books are mostly through the approval plan we have established with a major book-vendor. This brings us current publications from university and trade presses that distribute in the United States. Fluctuations in these expenditures can be attributed to differences in output from year to year, as well as our own decisions in charging a particular purchase to the Afro-American studies funds or to other related funds (American History, Music, etc.). The firm order expenditures reflect material other purchases, which have tended to decline as the approval plan now brings us most of the material we need. A higher expenditure in this line, as in 1996/97, usually reflects the purchase of a some special material such as a microform collection or multi-volume reference work.

According to the Collection Development Policy Statement prepared in for Afro-American Studies in 1983, the desired collection level in most subject areas id STUDY or STUDY/RESEARCH. A RESEARCH level collection is one that includes the major source materials required for dissertation and independent research, including secondary materials important to scholars. It also includes all important reference works and a wide selection of specialized monographs, as well as an extensive collection of journals and major indexing/abstracting services. A STUDY level collection is one adequate to support undergraduate and graduate course work. The Library has endeavored to achieve the levels indicated in the Policy Statement and has supported the research and teaching components of the Program and Rites and Reasons, as well as their interaction and collaboration.

» Stephen L. Thompson, Collection Development Librarian for Afro-American Studies
» William S. Monroe, Head, Collection Development